Royal Kludge RK61 Repairing

[KanoKanKan]

Greetings, this is my first time posting here. I want to ask a question regarding my RK61. The switch for "W" key is broken so I want to change it with the new one. So i desolder the old one and I try to solder the new one in. But I think I messed up the board whn I tried to do so. It looks really bad that I'm afraid it cannot be repaired. Can you guys suggest what I can do for my keyboard?

This is what it looks like:



Any suggestion is very much appreciated. Thank you.

[Rico]

It looks like you destroyed the switch copper pads...

And also it looks like you have solder that bridges 2 pins of the led,  before plugging back the PCB it would be good to ensure that it is not the case.

Did you cleaned the area with isopropil alcool ?
This may give us a better view of what the problem really is.

[nmur]

yeah that looks pretty roasted. it's still fixable, though it will be more difficult now.

the copper pads that the two pins are gone now, so you would need to either carefully scrape off the black shielding layer of the copper traces that the copper pads used to be connected to, and solder the switch pins to those as well. alternatively, you could determine where the traces connect to, and solder a jump wire to those points instead. unfortunately, this PCB design uses just the two switch pins to hold the switch in place, so you may have to find another way of securing the switch in place

additionally, as mentioned, it looks like you've resoldered two LED pins together above the switch hole, which should be separated

it looks like you may have also melted the A key's LED plastic as well, so that might not work now

[KanoKanKan]

It looks like you destroyed the switch copper pads...

And also it looks like you have solder that bridges 2 pins of the led,  before plugging back the PCB it would be good to ensure that it is not the case.

Did you cleaned the area with isopropil alcool ?
This may give us a better view of what the problem really is.

That doesn't sound good. Tbh this is my first time doing this kind of thing.

I think the LED still works just fine, because whenever I plug it in, it still lights up just fine.

I don't really have that kind of alcohol, is there any alternative to clean it? I want to clean it too but I don't really know how.

[KanoKanKan]

yeah that looks pretty roasted. it's still fixable, though it will be more difficult now.

the copper pads that the two pins are gone now, so you would need to either carefully scrape off the black shielding layer of the copper traces that the copper pads used to be connected to, and solder the switch pins to those as well. alternatively, you could determine where the traces connect to, and solder a jump wire to those points instead. unfortunately, this PCB design uses just the two switch pins to hold the switch in place, so you may have to find another way of securing the switch in place

additionally, as mentioned, it looks like you've resoldered two LED pins together above the switch hole, which should be separated

it looks like you may have also melted the A key's LED plastic as well, so that might not work now

I see about this jump wire when I try to find another way to fix my keyboard. Can I use any cable to try doing it or is there any specific cable to do it? I think I can find a way to holds the switch in place.
Fortunately all the other keys and LED just fine, I guess. It's just the W key that I need to fix.

I think I really messed up this keyboard. I felt bad now that I think about it.

[Rico]

If it still works somehow as you just said then not all is lost

But you will need to clean the board with isopropic alcohool to have a clean space to work on a better see what you have on your board (and have a better look at the traces)
It is 90% alcool, or denatured alcohool that you can find in drug stores for example.

As said by other the unknown will be your ability to solder your switch in place, you may have to rely on having to glue it in place.
As for connecting it electrically, you'll more probably have to wire solder it with other PCB component.

[Rico]

Here is a tentative wiring below (any insulated wire should work).
Not sure yet about the green (lacking visibility).
The red I'm sure, need to solder the switch pin to the diode.

[KanoKanKan]

Here is a tentative wiring below (any insulated wire should work).
Not sure yet about the green (lacking visibility).
The red I'm sure, need to solder the switch pin to the diode.

Show Image

Ah, so any wire should work. I have some leftover wire from my school project, I guess I can use that then.
Looking at the image, the green means I need to connect both solder hole right? With the wire.
As for the red, I still don't really understand what you're trying to say.

Thanks for the feedback because I don't really have someone to ask about this kind of thing.

[KanoKanKan]

I think my first image is a little hard to see, so I'm gonna post it in a much more better angle. I hope this is better than before.

Thanks in advance.

[yui]

Here is a tentative wiring below (any insulated wire should work).
Not sure yet about the green (lacking visibility).
The red I'm sure, need to solder the switch pin to the diode.

Show Image

if you had not posted that i would have, i pretty sure both are right

Ah, so any wire should work. I have some leftover wire from my school project, I guess I can use that then.
Looking at the image, the green means I need to connect both solder hole right? With the wire.
As for the red, I still don't really understand what you're trying to say.

Thanks for the feedback because I don't really have someone to ask about this kind of thing.

both red and green are connections to make, using different colors is just to make is more readable

[KanoKanKan]

Here is a tentative wiring below (any insulated wire should work).
Not sure yet about the green (lacking visibility).
The red I'm sure, need to solder the switch pin to the diode.

Show Image

if you had not posted that i would have, i pretty sure both are right

Ah, so any wire should work. I have some leftover wire from my school project, I guess I can use that then.
Looking at the image, the green means I need to connect both solder hole right? With the wire.
As for the red, I still don't really understand what you're trying to say.

Thanks for the feedback because I don't really have someone to ask about this kind of thing.

both red and green are connections to make, using different colors is just to make is more readable

So I just connect the red one to the orange thing? Sorry I don't know what it's called. Because from what I understand, I need to connect the nodes to another nodes right?
Pardon for my lack of understanding because I really am not familiar with this kind of thing.

Thanks a lot.

[Rico]

>Looking at the image, the green means I need to connect both solder hole right? With the wire.
Yes, but still not sure about it as it is difficult to see traces from the images.
Ideally a multimeter would be handy to see if I am right or not ...

For the red case you have to solder a wire from the switch hole directly on the pole of the diole.

Do you have any copper left on your holes (on the other side of the PCB or inside the hole) ?

[Rico]

>Looking at the image, the green means I need to connect both solder hole right? With the wire.
Yes, but still not sure about it as it is difficult to see traces from the images.
Ideally a multimeter would be handy to see if I am right or not ...

For the red case you have to solder a wire from the switch hole directly on the pole of the diole.

Do you have any copper left on your holes (on the other side of the PCB or inside the hole) ?

[suicidal_orange]

Before soldering anything short the working switch pin at the end of green to the diode at the end of red - this bypasses the broken switch pads and should type a W.  If it does you need to solder the lines as people said, if not don't.  (It seems strange that the diodes also connect across, but many commercial keyboard designers appear to be crazy so it may well be right!)

[KanoKanKan]

>Looking at the image, the green means I need to connect both solder hole right? With the wire.
Yes, but still not sure about it as it is difficult to see traces from the images.
Ideally a multimeter would be handy to see if I am right or not ...

For the red case you have to solder a wire from the switch hole directly on the pole of the diole.

Do you have any copper left on your holes (on the other side of the PCB or inside the hole) ?

After looking from the other side, I guess one of the hole is still quite clean but the other one is burnt as well.
By traces you mean the lines that seems like connecting the holes right? So that means I need to trace those lines and connect the pins into another hole that can connect it right? If so then can I connect the red into the one besides green? Because Both seems connect to the same orange thing?

I'm just afraid to solder the wire directly to the orange thing.

Thanks.

[KanoKanKan]

Before soldering anything short the working switch pin at the end of green to the diode at the end of red - this bypasses the broken switch pads and should type a W.  If it does you need to solder the lines as people said, if not don't.  (It seems strange that the diodes also connect across, but many commercial keyboard designers appear to be crazy so it may well be right!)

Oh by that you mean I just directly connect the wire into the orange thing called diodes? Is it safe to do so? because I don't want to messed this up even further.
Thanks a heap.

[suicidal_orange]

Yes, just touch the two points with anything conductive.  This is exactly what the switch (probably) does when you press it so there's no risk of damaging anything.  Worst case that's not what the W switch does and you'll get another letter instead.

The diode is a good place to solder to, the other end is also soldered so it wont move.

Also the green line runs under the diode but it doesn't connect to it.  You would need to solder both ends of both lines if the touch test works.  Doesn't matter where your wire runs, keyboards don't have problems with interference.

[KanoKanKan]

Yes, just touch the two points with anything conductive.  This is exactly what the switch (probably) does when you press it so there's no risk of damaging anything.  Worst case that's not what the W switch does and you'll get another letter instead.

The diode is a good place to solder to, the other end is also soldered so it wont move.

Also the green line runs under the diode but it doesn't connect to it.  You would need to solder both ends of both lines if the touch test works.  Doesn't matter where your wire runs, keyboards don't have problems with interference.

Okay then , I will try that. Hopefully this solution solves the problem. Thanks for the input, I'll update when something happen. 

[KanoKanKan]

So I just finished creating the jump wire. Here is what it looks like:


And now the "W" key is finally working again. The rest of keyboard and LEDs also works like normal.
Thank you very much for the suggestion and showing me the solution for my problem.

I guess it's case closed then. Again, thank you very much 

[nmur]

So I just finished creating the jump wire. Here is what it looks like:

Show Image

And now the "W" key is finally working again. The rest of keyboard and LEDs also works like normal.
Thank you very much for the suggestion and showing me the solution for my problem.

I guess it's case closed then. Again, thank you very much  :)

well done  :thumb:

[Rico]

Well done !

You did quite well for your soldering job

Was not sure about the green wire (could not see well on your images), saw that I was wrong, haha!

A good purchase for your next unsoldering attempt would be to buy a good manual desoldering pump and a basic mutimeter (with continuity test feature).
Those are very cheap to purchase and can be useful in cases like this

[KanoKanKan]

Well done !

You did quite well for your soldering job

Was not sure about the green wire (could not see well on your images), saw that I was wrong, haha!

A good purchase for your next unsoldering attempt would be to buy a good manual desoldering pump and a basic mutimeter (with continuity test feature).
Those are very cheap to purchase and can be useful in cases like this

Thanks, I put that on next purchase. I have a few blue gateron switch I want to put in. Maybe I'll do that when I have more free time.
Again, thanks for the help really appreciate it

[yui]

and if you can set the temperature go a bit lower on the heat 350°C is plenty high, if you can't well yeah a solder pump and fast hands should make it a lot less painful